Tafsir Ibn Ajiba

Al-Bahr al-Madeed fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Majeed (Arabic: ‫البحر المديد في تفسير القرآن المجيد‬‎, lit. 'The
Vast Sea in the Interpretation of the Glorious Qur'an') or shortly named al-Baḥr al-Madīd
(English: The Immense Ocean), better known as Tafsir Ibn 'Ajiba (Arabic: ‫تفسير ابن عجيبة‬‎), is a
Sunni Sufi tafsir work, authored by the Maliki-Ash'ari scholar Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (d. 1224/1809),
who was following the Shadhili-Darqawi order.
 The Immense Ocean

Author Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba

Original title Al-Baḥr al-Madīd

Translators Translated into English by Mohamed Fouad

Aresmouk, and Michael Abdurrahman Fitzgerald

Country Morocco

Language Arabic, English

Subject Tafsir, Sufism

Publisher Fons Vitae

Publication date 2009

Pages 204

ISBN 9781891785283
The Opening and other Meccan Revelations: Selections from al-Bahr al-Madid of Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba, translated by Abdul
Aziz Suraqah.

It is the only traditional Qur'anic commentary which gives both exoteric exegesis and mystical,
spiritual esoteric allusion (ishara) for each verse of the Qur'an, combines traditional exegesis
with spiritual contemplation, exploring the outer and inner meanings of the sacred text.[1]

The reader will find commentary, both exoteric and esoteric, on most verses of the Qur'anic text,
and will discover the depths at which Qur'anic discourse has been understood by the Sufis over
the centuries and up to the author's era.[2]

Ibn Ajiba's tafsir was written in about five years.[3]

Background

Ibn 'Ajiba relied on several earlier sources for his interpretation, as he himself mentioned at the
end of his tafsir, including the following:[4]

Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil by Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi (d. 685/1286).

Irshad al-'Aql al-Salim ila Mazaya al-Kitab al-Karim by Ebussuud Efendi (d. 982/1574).

Hashiya (footnote) on Tafsir al-Jalalayn by Abu Zayd 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fasi (d. 1096/1685).
 Al-Tashil li-'Ulum al-Tanzil by Ibn Juzayy (d. 741/1340).

Al-Kashf wa al-Bayan by Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi (d. 427/1035).

Lata'if al-Isharat by Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465/1074).

As for his Hadith sources, they are the six major Hadith collections (al-Kutub al-Sittah) of Sunni
Islam and their valuable commentaries.

His linguistic sources are: Al-Alfiyya, al-Kafiyya al-Shafiyya by Ibn Malik, al-Tasheel by Ibn
Hisham; and the books of Qur'an meanings, such as Ma'ani al-Qur'an by al-Farra' and al-Zajjaj;
and also the dictionaries/lexicons books, such as al-Sihah by al-Jawhari, and Asas al-Balagha by
al-Zamakhshari.

Most of the Sufi sources of his tafsir are from North Africa, al-Andalus, or Egypt. He quotes from
scholars such as al-Junayd, al-Qushayri, al-Ghazali, al-Shadhili, al-Mursi, al-Sakandari, al-Darqawi,
Muhammad al-Buzidi, al-Jili, al-Shushtari, al-Bistami, Zarruq and Ruzbihan al-Baqli. Ibn 'Ajiba's
quotations from Ruzbihan have hitherto gone unnoticed, because Ibn 'Ajiba referred to him as
“al-Wartajbi” (Arabic: ‫الورتجبي‬‎).[1][Note 1]

About the author

Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba was a Shadhili-Darqawi shaykh who wrote over 30 Islamic Sufi books. He was
born in a village near Tetouan to a sharifian family, who originated from an Andalusian mountain
village called 'Ayn al-Rumman (“the Spring of Pomegranates”). He showed from an early age an
aptitude for the religious sciences and became a traditional 'alim. His orientation changed when
he read al-Hikam al-Ata'iyya (the wisdoms or aphorisms of Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Sakandari) with the
commentary by Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi (d. 792 AH/1390 CE), who contributed to the spread of the
Shadhiliyya order in the Maghreb (northwest Africa).[6]

Notes

1. Ruzbihan al-Baqli al-Shirazi (d. 606/1209) is also known as "Al-Wartajbi", but this name is unknown and
unpopular, which made Ibn 'Ajiba's quotations from him seem to have been utterly unnoticed.[5]

See also

Tafsir al-Nisaburi
List of tafsir works

List of Sunni books

References

1. Andrew Rippin (2008). The Blackwell Companion to the Qur'an (https://books.google.com/books?id=xUu

04ozMXOcC) . John Wiley & Sons. p. 358. ISBN 9781405178440.

2. "The Immense Ocean: Al-Bahr al-Madid" (https://web.archive.org/web/20210330044033/https://fonsvita

e.com/product/the-immense-ocean-al-bahr-al-madid) . fonsvitae.com. Fons Vitae Publishing. Archived
from the original (https://fonsvitae.com/product/the-immense-ocean-al-bahr-al-madid) on 30 Mar
2021.

3. "‫ البن عجيبة‬،‫ البحر المديد في تفسير القرآن المجيد‬:‫( "من ذخيرتنا المدفونة‬https://archive.ph/DBGAO) .
www.habous.gov.ma. Morocco's Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs. Archived from
the original (http://www.habous.gov.ma/daouat-alhaq/item/2497) on 31 Mar 2021. "‫وإذن فهذا العمل الجليل‬
‫المطبوع بطابع العمق في التحليل والنضج في العرض لم يكن وليد سنة أو سنتين وإنما كان وليد فترة من الزمن قاربت خمس‬
‫ ممتعة في أعطاف القرآن‬،‫ أنفقها المؤلف في رحلة بهية‬،‫"سنوات‬

4. "‫( "أبوالعباس أحمد بن محمد «ابن عجيبة» والبحر المديد في تفسير القرآن المجيد‬https://web.archive.org/web/20210331
222035/https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2005-10-22-1.109775) . www.albayan.ae (in Arabic). Archived
from the original (https://www.albayan.ae/sports/2005-10-22-1.109775) on 31 Mar 2021.

5. Abu Bakr Muhammad Banani. "‫الفتوحات القدسية في شرح قصيدة في حال السلوك عند الصوفية المسماة (القصيدة‬
‫( ")النقشبندية‬https://books.google.com/books?id=icBKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16) . Google Books (in Arabic).
Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah. "‫"تفسير القرآن "للورتجبي" وهو الشيخ روزبهان البقلي الشيرازي‬

6. Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, Muneera Haeri (2019). Sufi Encounters: Sharing the Wisdom of Enlightened Sufis
(https://books.google.com/books?id=wQ6WDwAAQBAJ) . Watkins Media Limited. p. 232.
ISBN 9781786783448.

Further reading

Kristin Zahra Sands (2006). Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=uU9_AgAAQBAJ) . Routledge. ISBN 9781134211449.

Pieter Coppens (2018). Seeing God in Sufi Qur'an Commentaries: Crossings between This World
and the Otherworld (https://books.google.com/books?id=IWSDDwAAQBAJ) . Edinburgh
University Press. ISBN 9781474435079.

‫ أحمد بن محمد بن الصديق الغماري‬:‫ تأليف‬،‫سير الركائب النجيبة بأخبار الشيخ ابن عجيبة‬
 ‫ حسن عزوزي‬:‫ تأليف‬،‫( الشيخ أحمد بن عجيبة ومنهجه في التفسير‬https://books.google.com.eg/books?id=P
1nYAAAAMAAJ)

‫ الشيخ أحمد ابن عجيبة المفكر والعالم الصوفي‬:‫( أعمال ندوة‬https://books.google.com.eg/books?id=pS25y

aiiH0UC)

‫ دراسة في الفلسفة الصوفية عند أحمد بن عجيبة‬:‫( التصوف كوعي وممارسة‬https://books.google.com.eg/boo

ks?id=G9auDAEACAAJ)

External links

Tafsir Ibn 'Ajiba (https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=3&tTafsirNo=37&tSoraNo=1

&tAyahNo=1&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1) (in Arabic)

Esoteric Hermeneutic of Ibn 'Ajiba (http://www.allamaiqbal.com/publications/journals/review/

aproct09/8.htm)

Surat al-Kawthar: Sufi Tafsir: ibn 'Ajiba (https://thicketandthorp.com/2010/07/12/surah-al-kaw

thar-sufi-tafsir-ibn-ajiba/)

Note From The Translator: Ibn 'Ajiba's Tafsir of Verses 1-5 of Surat al-Kahf (https://www.imam
ghazali.org/blog/translators-note-ibn-ajiba-tafsir-surat-al-kahf-verses-1-5)

Divine Love in the Moroccan Sufi Tradition: Ibn 'Ajība (d. 1224/1809) and His Oceanic Exegesis
of the Qur'ān (https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/33784?show=full)

The Philosophical Method in the Sufi Qur'anic commentaries (https://labopheno.com/lms/log

os-revu/course/ibn-ajiba) (in Arabic)

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